Sydney Bristow and Kate Austen
by Kate Bridges
Summary: A LostAlias crossover, J.J Abrams awesomeness. Kate and Sawyer robbed a bank and now Sydney's on a mission to find them. Chapter 7 here! And yes, this story was here before, then moved to Alias, and now its back. Crazy, i know. XD Anyway, please read!
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone,**

**This is an idea I've had for a while, a Lost/Alias crossover, but I haven't ever actually written one. So here goes, and please review to tell me what you think. **

**Kate and Sawyer worked together to break into a bank in L.A, for something more than just money (I just don't know what yet) and they were caught by someone Kate knew. Kate was put in jail, and now the CIA is questioning her about the thing that they were trying to steal, which is where Sydney comes in. A J.J Abrams mix, because, of course, he is a freaking genius, along with some other people's help. All characters belong to them, not me. The time is around seasons 1 & 2 of both shows, so the raft worked for the Losties, and they were rescued a while ago. And I haven't gotten any farther than season 2 with my Alias watching(I'm terrible, sorry), so I apologize if I forget something. **

**Enjoy, and please review. (hopefully you can read this if you haven't seen both of the shows, but it might be easier if you have)**

**Okay. I'll shut up now. **

**Thank you in advance for reading, you guys are the best **

**Love, Kate**

_Kate spun straight through the revolving door of the bank as if this were any other normal day, though with every step her heart beat faster, almost begging her to turn back. But is was much too late for that._

_She walked straight to the front desk and took a deep breath. There was a woman wearing a headset, her eyes locked on the paper she was scribbling madly on with a pen that was slowly dying scribble by scribble. _

_She took a deep breath before she spoke. Even then her voice came out choked and broken. _

"_Hi, I'm here for a meeting with-"_

"_Be with you in a minute," the woman said sharply, making Kate jump. But then, anything would have made her jump, and her heart was beating so fast she thought that she would explode. When you're that nervous, you become twice as aware at everything around you, as if everything you see is after you. _

_She thought the mailman was looking at her through the window. Every time footsteps tapped against the marble floor she thought they were coming after her. It felt like the whole world was watching her every move. Even the sound of the scribbling pen scratching away startled her. _

"_Hello?" _

_Kate gasped. It was the woman at the desk, looking up at her impatiently. _

"_Y-yes," she stammered. "I'm here for a meeting with a Mr. Carlson about a new bank account. She recited the same words they had practiced over and over, always staying up later because Kate kept insisting that they needed it. She hoped she was right. _

"_Name," the woman asked with a bored drawl. _

"_Olivia Wells," Kate recited, trying with every sound to believe it was her own, that she was someone other than herself. She knew that Olivia Wells couldn't be crazy enough to do something this stupid. Maybe if Kate tried to become her she wouldn't be Kate Austen anymore, and she'd just disappear into a different life. _

"_That's insane," she told herself silently. _

"_Follow me," the woman said in a curt voice that instantly cut right through Kate's thoughts back into reality. She led Kate to a desk by a large window looking out on the city. "He'll be right with you," she said, gesturing to a big red leather chair next to the desk. _

"_Thanks," Kate whispered, forcing a meek smile._

_She stared at the chair for a minute as if she was unsure about what to do with it, but she couldn't sit. She could feel him watching her from somewhere, and then she wanted nothing more then to look for him, for something that told her he was okay. God, she had known this was a bad idea. She kept getting a feeling that would wake her in the middle of the night, some voice screaming in the back of her head that they couldn't do it._

_She had woken up in the middle of the night last night almost screaming from a nightmare. _

"_You okay, Freckles?" his voice whispered to her in the darkness of their tiny apartment. _

_She shook her head hard. "Nightmare." _

_"You okay?" he asked. _

_"Sawyer-" she choked the words back, but she could feel him looking at her with that same look even through the blackness between them. "I don't think we should do this."_

_She felt his arms fold around her, and for the first time she felt herself pulling away. "I can't."_

_She could almost see a smile of disbelief on his face. "Course you can, Freckles! You kidding me? You done this before, right?"_

_"That was different." Kate said, her voice trailing off as she realized what she had said. It had been different, the time she had robbed a bank with Jason, her old boyfriend. She had lied to him, made him believe it was his idea. But the one thing that made it different was that then, she had hardly been afraid. She didn't care about Jason, if he went to jail. But she cared about Sawyer. _

_Kate hung her head as the words echoed in her head. She cared. God, why did she have to tell herself that now, when tomorrow they might be putting their lives in danger?_

_"You know we won't go if you don't want to," he whispered, stroking her hair. _

_She tried to say it that night, say what was on her mind, what she had to tell him, finally say she cared. But every time, the words got caught in her throat. _

_"No," she whispered, "I'm ready."_

_Kate's eyes blinked open, startled by the sound of a car stuck in the streets. She didn't think she could wait anymore, she had to do something. She paced back and forth across the giant window before she stopped and pressed her hands to the glass, almost hoping that it would disappear and let her fall. _

_"You're going crazy," she told herself. _

_"Are you Miss Wells?" an old, shaky voice asked from behind her._

_Kate forced a smile as she turned to face an old man dressed in a brown suit with a crooked grin. "Yes, I'm here about-"_

_Her voice trailed past a whisper when she saw eyes that were truly staring at her from behind a sharp corner. Eyes from her past. Eyes that she knew would always recognize hers. Jason. _

_Her eyes widened as she looked from his eyes down to his fist. Clenched in his fingers was a gun. _

Sydney's car screeched into her spot in the parking garage of Credit Dauphine, Headquarters of SD-6. Now, even looking at the silver letters on that sign made her sick. Everyone, more then half the people she worked with everyday, had been deceived. They had all thought they were working for the CIA, one of the most amazing jobs you can have to help your own country. But now Sydney knew the truth. They were working for the enemy, they had been lied to by her own boss, Arvin Sloane. And one day, Sydney was going to destroy them, SD-6. That was why she was now a double agent for the CIA.

Sydney walked briskly through the headquarters, almost late for a meeting about a new mission from Sloane. She was trying not to run. She'd never been late for a meeting before, and she wasn't about to start today.

"Hey, Syd."

Her partner, Dixon's voice reached her from down the hall.

"Hey." Syd smiled. Dixon had been with her for almost every mission she had ever been on. He was the one who knew her better than anyone at SD-6, even better than her own father, Jack.

"You heading to Sloane's meeting, right?"

Syd nodded. "You heard anything?" She never had any idea where they were going. For all she knew, tomorrow she could be on the other side of the world.

"Somethin' about a bank robbery, or an attempted one," Dixon said as he jogged to keep up with her.

"Where?" Syd asked, ready to get on a plane to Morocco and call her roommate with another one of those stories about a business trip for the "bank" she worked at.

"Here." She stopped and looked at him. "Yeah, weird huh? Apparently it's got something to do with a fugitive they've been after. Anyway, they're sending somebody."

Syd was confused as she opened the door to the meeting room. Usually she was off in Africa searching for atomic bombs, not at home catching bank robbers. It didn't make any sense.

Sloane sat in his chair at the head of the table, ready to begin the meeting. Syd glared at him, trying not to think about how much she wanted him dead, and SD-6 with him.

"Now," Sloane said, clearing his throat, "if anyone remembers, there was a bank robbery in New Mexico a few years back. Katherine Austen-" a mug shot of a girl with freckles and wavy dark hair flashed up on the tv screens around the room, "broke in for a safety deposit box."

"Hey, I saw that girl on tv last night!" Marshall, the technical guy said excitedly. "The one from that plane, right?"

"Yes," Sloane said firmly over Marshall's excitement. "Katherine Austen was on Flight 815, being brought back here to Los Angeles in the custody of a U.S Marshal, who did not survive the crash."

"Wait," Syd called, raising her hand into the air. "You said she broke in for a safe deposit box?"

Sloane nodded. "Not what your typical thief would be after in a bank full of money, right? But yes, she did. She also killed her stepfather, a man named Wayne, the first crime she committed. But last week-" with a click of a button the picture changed to a man with long, shaggy blond hair and bright green eyes "she was seen with this man, James Ford, went by the name of Sawyer. He was a conman for years, stealing hundreds of dollars. He even paid his way out of jail.

"But last week," Sloane repeated, "they were both seen at a bank outside of Los Angeles, ready to steal something. That bank holds more then just money. Files, different papers that could mean a fortune, we don't know everything that could be in there. But they were after something."

"Are they in custody?" someone asked, gesturing to James Ford's picture.

Sloane slowly shook his head. "No. Ford was shot, by who we think is one of Austen's old friends that showed up. She escaped, and now she's got almost every police force in California looking for her."

"Any idea where she is?" a voice from the back of the room piped up.

Another head shake. "No, and she was on the run for a couple of years before the plane crash, so she's not easy to find."

"What do you want us to do?" Syd asked, still confused.

"Find her." Syd stared back at Sloane for a minute, a question of disbelief in her eyes. _Is it really that simple?_ "And don't underestimate this one, Syd, she gets away every time." Syd shuddered at the feeling that he could read her mind, and she tried to erase her thoughts from him.

"We need to find her first, because we need her to tell us what they were after, it could be important. Syd, start at the bank. See if you can find anything in the tapes from the security cameras. You can meet Marshall (Marshall excitedly waved his arm, as if Syd was across a football field from him and had forgotten who he was in the last five minutes) in his office at two for some tools to help you get information from the tapes. You'll bring Dixon with you, as always. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Syd said with a nod.

"That's all."

It was a lie, she didn't understand, she didn't understand what this girl had been after, what had happened to her, or what it had to do with SD-6 at all. Thoughts kept racing through her head as she sat in a park bench, scribbling a note to Vaughn, her handler at the CIA. That was how she talked to him most of the time, a scribbled note on a paper bag. Sometimes, she found herself wishing it was more.

_Vaughn, _she wrote, then pulled her pen from the scrunched brown paper to find her hand shaking. Just writing his name made her breath catch in her throat, her hands shake. _What the hell are you thinking? _she screamed at herself. She wasn't supposed to feel like this.

She pushed the thoughts out of her head and locked them away, stratching the pen on the paper bag into words again.

_Had a meeting with Sloane today, about a bank robbery in L.A. Someone named Katherine Austen broke in, with a guy named James Ford. You've probably heard of them from the plane crash, the survivors that were rescued from the island a few months ago. He was a conman, she killed her stepfather. He served time but bought his way out, and she was a fugitive. They broke in, and Ford was shot by some guy Austen knew. Now she's on the run again and Sloane wants me to find her, because he thinks she might have been after something more than just money. I'm starting at the bank here, looking through tapes from that day and to see if I can find anything else. _

_So what's my countermission?_

She ended it with the same familiar line and a curved S before she crumpled it up and tossed it into the nearby trashcan. She knew sometime soon that he would be walking down the same path as her to pick it up, he could even be watching her right now. She closed her eyes to stop the thoughts like flashing city lights in her head. Tomorrow evening she was going to the bank to try to make some sense of all this. She slowly walked home, knowing that she had no idea what lay ahead of her in the next day. But then again, she never did.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi!**

**Thanks for reviewing! I love you guys, reviews make my day happy! **

**About Sawyer(mmm, sawyer) it is really sad with him being supposedly dead, but it might stay that way for a few chapters, cause it's a connection between Syd and Kate. But don't worry skaters, I'll try and find some way to bring him back.(I hope)**

**But I was also planning on maybe a Will/Kate romance(to give away part of the plot, oops), if Sawyer doesn't come back, but you guys let me know what you think. **

**This chapter's pretty short, sorry, but maybe I'll do a longer chapter next time, after I finish studying for my science test. **

**Thanks, and keep reviewing, please!!!!!!!!! **

**Love, Kate**

_Kate woke in the back of Sawyer's old, battered truck, the truck that had been her home for the past week. It was dark, nothing but moonlight. She didn't know how long she had been asleep. _

_The past few days had been some of the worst of her life. She had stolen the car and all she could do was drive, drive on into the deep black all around her, tears streaming down her face into the tangled strings of her hair. _

_She couldn't sleep. Every time her eyes closed they saw his face the way he had looked at her for the last time, his green eyes desperate and filled with fear, the last spark of life burning out of them. She had never seen him look that scared before, ever. It was a sight she never thought she would see in a lifetime. _

_She had been running for almost a week now. For seven days she had been running alone. She was about to give up, for the first time in her life. What was the point of running when there wasn't anyone to run to?_

_Then she remembered his last words to her. As the sirens blared, and he lay on the floor before her, with her whole world crashing down on her, she remembered him whispering in her ear. _

_"Run, Freckles."_

_She shook her head, her fingers squeezing the life out of his, tears streaming down her face. _

_His voice was weak and shaky, and it scared the life out of her. "You heard me, run."_

_The sound of shattering glass broke through their panicked silence as the big windows were broken down and footsteps shook the building, looking for them. _

_"Kate," he whispered her name, "promise me you'll run."_

_The footsteps were louder now, and she could see shadows from behind the door that was the only thing standing between them and the people they had both been running from for years. _

_"Open the door!" the shadows screamed._

_Kate spun around to find a window leading to the streets. She closed her eyes as she held his hand for one last time. _

_"I love you," she whispered, and let go. _

_Kate's sobs pulled her out of her memory back into the torn leather seats of the truck that was parked in front of miles and miles of trees. She wanted to disappear into them, be lost forever in their tall branches. She had never wanted anything more in her life than in that moment. So she drove, drove as far into the trees as she could. _

_The sounds of the highway reached her through the silence of the forest. Screeching tires, honking cars, and the whirling scream of sirens. She didn't care about that sound anymore. The one sound that would have petrified her with fear only seven days ago didn't mean anything to her. And now she was going to give up. The only thing that wouldn't leave her alone was the promise she was breaking. _

_The sirens grew louder. Kate gripped the wheel. _

_"I'm sorry," she whispered, and drove forward._

"Hey," Syd's roommate and best friend Francie greeted her. "What's your name? Sydney? You know, that's so weird, I had this roommate named Sydney, she looked just like you, she used to _live here-"_

"Okay, okay," Syd stopped Francie's teasing before she started rambling into another one of those you-hardly-even-live-here-anymore-you-work-too-much-at-that-bank lectures. "I'm sorry, crazy meeting about all these new loans."

"Wow, you're alive," remarked her almost-roommate Will. "Almost forgot about you."

Syd forced a smile as they each pulled her into a suffocating embrace. These were the moments when she hated her job, when she wished all she could that they could know. Every time they teased her about her job, something inside her hurt. But as much as she wanted to tell the truth, she had seen what could happen when someone else knew it. And she never wanted it to happen again.

It was her fiancé, Danny. He had proposed after they had been dating for two years. It was one of the happiest days of Syd's life. After years and years without a family, she finally felt at home. But just one thing was standing in the way. Her secret, the most important one she had ever been asked to keep. She had to tell him. Every time she looked him, every time he talked about his dream of having a family, she could feel a stab of guilt inside of her. It felt like she was always lying to him, and one day she couldn't do it anymore. So she told him.

She came home a week later to find him dead. SD-6 had found out that he knew and ordered him killed.

She couldn't let that happen to Will and Francie. They were more than friends, they were family. The family Syd had never had.

Francie pulled away to find tears glistening in Syd's eyes. "You okay?"

Syd nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat. "Yeah, just kinda tired. What's up with you guys?"

Francie and Will's answers were cut off by the sharp ring of their phone. Syd reached for it and brought it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Tony's Pizza."

Syd sighed. That was her cue to go and meet Vaughn. "Wrong number," she said and dropped the phone back on the hook. She pretended to look at her watch. 

"Oh god, I'm late," she said, grabbing her coat from the hook on the wall.

"You kidding? You just got here!" Francie protested.

"I know, I'm sorry," Syd said, and it was true. She hated lying, and she hated the fact that she had to lie to the people she loved almost every day. "We'll talk later, okay?"

"Fine," Francie rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna go work on some homework for classes tomorrow then. See ya." She gave them both a quick wave before she disappeared.

Will was silent for a few minutes before he spoke what Syd knew he was thinking. "So, not the wrong number, right?"

Syd shook her head. "Vaughn." Will had found out a while ago, after he had been investigating Danny's murder for the newspaper he worked at. She had been terrified at first by what he had to go through, but now, he was just one more person who could actually know the truth.

Syd reached for the doorknob when her beeper rang.

"Bad guys, right?" Will asked as she picked it up.

"Yeah," Syd said, "but this is weird. He already gave me a job."

Will shrugged. "I'll stay with Francie until you get back," was all he said.

Syd nodded, still staring confused at her beeper. "Yeah, okay."

She closed the door behind her as Will's footsteps faded down the hall. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed Sloane's number, curiosity taking her over. Every mission was a mystery, but she was even more determined to solve this one, because it was unlike anything she had ever done before.

He picked up on the first ring, immediately knowing who was on the other end.

"Report to us first thing in the morning. We found her."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi,**

**Chapter 3 is here! This one starts from Syd's POV, Kate's part comes later. Kate's been taken into SD-6, and Syd and Vaughn go in to find her. I'll stop rambling now because I'll give away the whole chapter, as always. As for Sawyer, he'll be back, but not for a few chapters. **

**More Alias stuff in this chapter(sorry for those who haven't seen it) but next chapter there'll be more flashbacks, skate, etc.**

**Thanks for reading, and I love, love, love reviews, in case you didn't know that already**

**Love, Kate**

Sydney stared straight into Vaughn's eyes, leaning hard against the chain link fence. It was the only thing stopping her from falling. The room was completely silent. Sometimes Syd would be searching for something, anything to say these silent moments, but with Vaughn she felt like she didn't need to say anything. There were few people she felt that with, her best friends, and him. Only with them could she share these silent moments.

_What are you thinking? _she screamed at herself again, closing her eyes tight and locking them to the hard cement floor to get the thoughts out of her head.

"Syd, you okay?"

She looked up at him and nodded firmly. She couldn't forget why she was here.

"They got Austen. SD-6."

Vaughn sighed. "Yeah, we heard. It was on the news that she had been taken into custody. We figured she'd wind up with SD-6 sooner or later."

"Probably made them believe they were with the CIA," Sydney mused.

Vaughn nodded. "This makes the countermission a little harder."

Syd looked at him expectantly, even though she knew exactly what he was going to say. She stopped him before he had a chance to speak the words.

"When are we breaking in?"

Vaughn shook his head, trying to hide a smile on his face at how determined she always was. "Syd, we don't want to risk you being seen-"

"No," she interrupted, "if you're going in there, so am I. And you're smiling, I know it. Listen to me, I'm serious."

"Syd, we could always send someone else in-"

"No way."

Vaughn finally nodded. There was no arguing with her when she was this determined.

"Fine," he said, giving in. "You have a meeting with Sloane tomorrow?"

Syd nodded. "About interrogation or something. Why?"

"That's our in. I'll try and get to the holding cells during the meeting. I can get security down for seven minutes. If something goes wrong and they see me, meet me and we'll get out of there faster. Okay?"

Syd opened her mouth to protest. She hated it when he left her out of a mission with SD-6. She wanted to be with him when they brought them down together.

"Okay?" He said it more firmly, reading her mind.

She rolled her eyes a little and nodded. "But you're not leaving SD-6 without me."

Vaughn didn't try to hide his grin. "Okay."

They were all crowded around the long table in the gleaming black leather chairs, waiting for Sloane. Syd looked across the table at her father, Jack. She could tell he needed to talk to her. And the truth was, she needed to talk to him. She hardly even knew him, but besides Vaughn, he was the one person she could trust.

Sloane's black shoes tapped on the floor as he entered the room, sitting in his chair at the head of the table, looking down at them all.

"As you all know," he began, flashing the tiny remote at one of the screens around them, "as of our last meeting, we were to send Agent Bristow and Agent Dixon on a mission to find out what they could about this woman, Kate Austen, a fugitive for more than three years. She had recently broken into a bank outside of Los Angeles. This mission was aborted after Austen was caught yesterday afternoon, and was put into our custody. We believe she may have been after something that may be of value to us."

Syd looked up at the girl's face. For all she knew, Vaughn could be down there with her right now.

"You'll still need to break into the bank for any information you can find. Security won't help you much, you'll have to start with the documents-"

"Sloane."

A man stood in the doorway, beckoning for Sloane to follow him. Syd recognized the man. He worked for security. She knew why he was here.

Less than a minute later Sloane rushed in. "Sydney, Dixon, meet me in my office tomorrow. That's all."

She waited a few minutes more, though every second something inside her was silently screaming to run, find Vaughn. She counted to ten before she jumped to her feet.

Syd rushed out the door, out of the offices, found another door down the stairs, and began her descent step by step into the dark.

_She couldn't move. Every time she tried to sit up, something curled its strong arms around her and pulled her back down. She tried to open her eyes, but with every try they seemed to grow heavier, blurring the whole room she was now trapped in. Pain shot through her head as light from a tiny, smudged light bulb dangling from a cord hit her squinting eyes. Memories rushed back like a speeding train; the handcuffs snaking around her wrists, the door of her cell rattling shut, a few hours later, opening the door again and dragging her out, men in black masks, saying they were with the CIA taking her into custody, she tried to run, and then something hitting her head hard before everything went black. _

_Kate squirmed in the chair that was holding her prisoner, and the room came into view. It was dark and dusty, in the middle of an old basement. Ropes tied her to a chair, leaned back by a table. Her eyes widened as she saw what lay on the table. Blades, pins and needles were lined up on a tray. So this was what they were going to do to her. _

_Her mind racing, she reached her fingers for a knife, straining under the weight of the ropes. She curled her fingers around its think handle and began to saw through the ropes, thread by thread. _

_Just as it seemed that with one more stroke of the sharp blade she would have been free, she saw the doorknob turn. _

_A man stepped into the doorway, with tousled brown hair and wide green eyes. He flashed a badge in her face, a blur of bright gold. She could see a pair of handcuffs clenched in his fist. _

_"I'm with the CIA. We're taking you into custody-"_

_Kate broke free from the last threads of the ropes and lunged at the man, he raised a fist, she grabbed it and twisted his arm behind his back, slamming him into the wall. _

_"And then what?" she hissed into his ear. "You're just gonna tie me up again?"_

_"That was the plan, yes," he replied in a muffled voice. _

_Kate opened her mouth to say more, but instead of her own voice she heard a deeper, firmer one. "Let him go."_

_Kate turned her head to find a woman with dark hair and brown eyes glaring at her. She was pointing a gun right at Kate. _

_"Let him go," she repeated, slower. "Now."_

_Kate spun around, secretly panicked, looking for some way, any way out. She looked the girl right in the eyes, not letting a bit of fear into her gaze before she released the man and threw him toward the girl with the gun. _

_"Vaughn," she heard the girl ask nervously. "are you okay?" _

_Kate didn't have time to hear his answer as she ran faster than ever out the door. _

_With every beat of her feet hitting the cement floor she heard his whispers; "Kate, promise me-"_

_She heard their yells echoing down the hall. "I think she went this way-"_

_And his voice again; "Run, Freckles-"_

_And then she felt strong hands reaching for her as the man with the brown hair grabbed her. "Don't run," he whispered, and she panicked as the words brought her back to the first day she had felt the old silver of handcuffs around her wrists. "Don't run, Kate-" _

_"Let go of me," she whispered darkly, twisting herself out of his grip wit all her might._

_She heard the all too familiar click of handcuffs and footsteps running towards them as the girl with the dark hair caught up with them. "Come on," she said. "We've got to get out of here."_

_"How much time do we have?" he asked, clicking the cold metal around Kate's other wrist._

_"Three minutes, at most," the girl said, grabbing his arm. "We have to go."_

_"Okay." He clamped his hands on Kate's shoulder. "Let's go."_

_Kate followed down the dark, endless corridor, questions flying through her head like snowflakes in a storm. She didn't know where she was going, what they were going to do to her. As she thought about everything that had happened to her in the past few days, how everything had turned her life into a broken jigsaw puzzle and no one but him could put it back together, As she watched the way the man leading her looked at the girl with the dark hair, she had never felt more alone. _


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi again, **

**Sorry about the Alias overload last chapter, this one has more Lost in it. I have been writing a lot of Alias stuff for this though because I've been watching it a lot. Maybe I should move this under Alias but I'm not sure. What do you think? (Sawyer's still coming back by the way) This chapter has a skate flashback, and more from Kate's POV. Sorry it took so long, I've been really busy, but I'll try to update more often from now on. Thanks for reading; reviews make me a happy person, and you guys rock,**

**Love Kate**

_She remembered the first day she saw him since the island. _

_She had been running ever since she had gotten away from the people who were taking her to jail. She had checked in at a cheap hotel out of L.A under the name Liz Weston. She remembered smiling at the man at the counter and turning to the window when she saw him. _

_He looked almost the same, she had thought. Same messy blonde hair, same strong arms. But then his eyes met hers. Something made her heart beat faster. She tried to push it away as she pulled her gaze from his. She couldn't let anyone see them, and he seemed to know that too. He walked by with nothing but a small smile._

_That night she heard a knock on her door. She didn't even have to open it to know who it was. She turned the knob and pulled, a smile spread across her face. _

_"Hey Freckles. You okay?" he asked._

_She laughed out loud. Freckles. She hadn't realized how much she missed hearing that nickname. "Yeah. You?"_

_He nodded. "I'm all right," he said. Silence hung between them as they stared at each other for an endless moment. Had it really been half a whole year?_

_Kate broke the silence with a small laugh, "Come on in."_

_Looking back on that night, she couldn't remember another night when she had lost time like that, when she had ever laughed that much, ever told anyone else as much as she told him. Not even Tom. _

_But every time she opened her mouth to tell him what she had done, about her past life, about Wayne, something made her bite the words back. She couldn't believe that she was trusting Sawyer, in a way she had never trusted anyone before. _

_She remembered the city lights, like blinding clusters of fireflies. The wind blew through her hair as she leaned over the balcony rail. Traffic flew under her like a raging river. But she knew she wouldn't fall. Somehow, she knew, and she trusted that feeling. _

_"You wanna hear something crazy, Freckles?" he yelled over the traffic. _

_She laughed. "Sure."_

_"Sometimes," his voice trailed off. Kate gave him an encouraging look and he smiled and began again. "Sometimes I think about that damn island. Sometimes I even miss it."_

_"I know." Kate confessed. It was the same way she had felt for months. She was relieved that he had said it. There was actually someone who felt the same way she did. "I know what you mean."_

_"You do?" He laughed. "Cause I thought it was just me goin crazy."_

_Kate shook her head and grinned. "If you're crazy, so am I," she laughed. _

_Sawyer grabbed her hand and spun her around. "C'mon, Freckles! Don't you miss the sand? Palm trees?" _

_"Polar bears?" Kate asked, tossing her hair._

_"Now that's somethin' I don't miss," he laughed. _

_He spun her around again, as if dancing to silent music. He pulled her close. _

_In that moment the world seemed to slow down. Every moment lasted a lifetime. She felt everything as if for the first time as she came closer, closer, and then his lips met hers. _

_She pulled herself into him, her breath matching his. She couldn't believe what she was feeling, how this night had changed her life. As he kissed her, and she kissed him back, everything, her past, her worries for the future seemed to disappear, and nothing else mattered._

_Kate sat on the platform in her cell silently, staring at the layers of glass surrounding her as if she could make them disappear. They stood tall in front of her like an invisible monster, the only thing between her and the world she could merely watch. She was screaming inside, hating the feeling of the walls trapping her in the small room with nowhere to run. She was almost paralyzed by the shock of her life being turned upside down, only in a matter of weeks. She couldn't move. Sometimes she couldn't even breathe. _

_She felt like she was going crazy. "You killed him," a voice kept telling her over and over. "Jason wouldn't have shot the gun if it weren't for you." _

"_I didn't." she whispered. "I didn't mean-"_

_The sound of opening gates reached her ears as though from miles away. She didn't move, not even at the sound of approaching footsteps, closer and closer. She didn't need to look up to know who was on the other side of the glass. _

_"You gonna talk to me?"_

_It was the voice of the man who had brought her into this new prison. Vaughn, she heard them call him. _

_He sighed. "Come to the glass." _

_Kate's eyes snapped up to his, glaring defiantly. Vaughn smiled. _

_"Well, at least you're looking at me. That's good. Now come to the glass." _

_Kate brushed her unruly hair out of her face and rose to her feet. She walked closer and closer, never taking her eyes off his. She couldn't show fear. She wouldn't._

_She stopped. "What do you want?" _

_"I'm with the CIA-" he began._

_Kate forced a laugh. "Yeah, I've heard that one before."_

_"Well, this time believe it. It's the truth."_

_She didn't believe him. But now, it seemed that she couldn't believe in anything, even the truth. _

_"We need you to tell us what happened that day at the bank."_

_Tears sprung to Kate's eyes, and she looked away, not letting him see her fight the sob in her throat. She shook her head. _

_"Look," Vaughn said, his hand to the glass. "We're holding you here only as long as you cooperate. If you do, the time spent here will pay for the time in jail you would have spent for your crimes."_

_Kate shook her head again. She didn't care. If she had to choose between jail and telling the story of that day again, word for word with all the memories playing in her head, she would probably choose jail._

_"He's dead," she whispered, forgetting about Vaughn's ears still listening to her every word. "He's dead, it's my fault, don't you get it?" She pounded her fist to the glass as a tear spilled over and streamed down her face. _

_Vaughn stared at her through the glass, her face flooded with pain, red from endless tears. He'd seen that look before._

_"Sydney." he said. "If you won't talk to me, then talk to Sydney. If she doesn't know about what you're going through, no one does."_

_Is he serious? Kate thought. Talk to Sydney, the same Sydney who had pointed a gun to her head just yesterday? Sydney was the only one who knew what she was going through?_

_Kate pulled her fist from the smooth surface of the glass. "Then no one does."_

_She could feel his anger through the glass. "You don't know what Sydney's been through." he said fiercely._

_Kate looked at the fire in his eyes. He was standing up for Sydney. She remembered the last time someone had done anything like that for her. There was only one person who had ever been that brave for her. And now he was gone._

_She heard Vaughn's footsteps stomping away, then the gates opening and closing again, locking her back in, alone. _

Vaughn stormed in by Syd's desk minutes later, his fists clenched.

"She won't talk. Not to me."

She looked at him, concerned. "What did she say? She must have said something."

"No, she just-" he stopped at the knowing tone in her voice. "Why?"

She shrugged. "She must have said something to make you like this. What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "Nothing." He couldn't let her see the way what Kate had said about her made him feel. This was insane; even being seen together outside of the CIA could get them killed. He pushed the thoughts out of his mind.

"Syd-" he paused, an idea in his head. "I think you should talk to her."

"And why me?" Syd asked, not even looking up from the notes she was scribbling.

"Look," Vaughn pulled up a chair. "The man who showed up at the bank that day. Jason something, right?" Syd nodded, her eyes still locked on the black curls scratched out on the paper. Vaughn tossed a black and white picture on her desk. "That's him."

Syd dropped her pen and stared. There Jason was, climbing into a white van. Opening the van door was Sloane.

"What do we do now?" Syd asked sharply.

"We still need to get some information from Austen. Why she was in the bank that day, where she thinks this man might be, anything."

"And then she leads us to Sloane." Syd nodded. Maybe they would be able to destroy SD-6 at last. Vaughn was still frowning.

"What? There's more, isn't there?"

Vaughn sighed. "Syd, this guy is on the run. The only person who has any idea where he might be going is her."

She didn't want to believe what she knew he was going to say. "Wait, you want to take her with us?"

Vaughn nodded. "We can give her an alias, keep her with us at all times, make sure she won't escape-"

"This is insane, you don't know what could happen-"

"Syd, we also need someone to take her in. We can't take her to the safe house here, you know what happened when we sent Will there.

Sydney closed her eyes from the memories of when Will had been kidnapped. "What, do you want me to take her? I can't-"

"Syd, just for a few weeks-"

"She's a fugitive!" Sydney hissed. "She's unpredictable! You want me to put Will and Francie in that kind of danger?"

"Syd, I'm sorry, I didn't want you to have to do this, but just listen to me."

Syd glared at him silently.

"You said yourself you would do anything to bring down SD-6. Just trust me."

_Trust me. _The words echoed in Syd's ears. Trust. She knew about trust. It was one of the most important lessons she had ever had to learn, who to trust. And she trusted Vaughn.

"Come on then," she said, and headed towards the strong silver gates.

She walked slowly up to the glass. Kate sat on her cot, arms and legs locked up to her chest, eyes shut tight. She didn't move, didn't breathe. She was like a statue.

"We'll take you out of here." Syd called over to her, and her eyes seemed to open. "If you help us."

Kate shook her head. "I won't tell you about the bank," she whispered, burying herself in her thick brown hair.

"This is important, Kate," Sydney called, softening her voice. "Please, the man who you saw at the bank. Where is he?"

Kate uncurled herself stiffly, inching over to where Sydney stood. "He had the gun." Kate murmured, almost to herself. Anger and pain sparked in her eyes.

Sydney put her hand to the glass. "I know what it's like to lose someone," she whispered, thinking of Danny.

Kate nodded, promising herself not to let the tears fall again. "I don't know where he is," she whispered. "But I promise, I will help you find him."


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone,**

**Yes, I did move this over to Alias. (in case for some reason you didn't guess that already) I just realized that since this takes place mostly in the CIA and stuff that there's more Alias in it, and it might be easier to read if you've seen Alias. But I can still email you guys about chapter updates and stuff if you want, so keep reading!**

**Not much to say about this chapter, and if I did say anything then I would probably start rambling and give away the whole chapter, which I usually do, so I'll shut up. But I did give Jason a last name, cause I couldn't remember if that was mentioned in the show or not, was it? **

**Thanks for the awesome reviews, I love you guys! Kipsypatch16, aka friend from school, wow, deep review. My writing is so improved. ;-)**

**Love, Kate**

**p.s don't own lost, or alias. do wish I did, especially Vaughn. And his hair, and amazing eyes, and-okay. I'll stop talking. **

Sydney marched straight through the headquarters of the CIA, a determined spark in her eyes. She knew two things, that her superior Kendall would think that Vaughn's plan was insane, and that if this crazy idea was the only way to bring down SD-6 no one was going to stop her.

Syd met her father, Jack, Vaughn, and Kendall standing outside Kate's cell. She knew by the first few moments of furious silence that greeted her that she would have to convince everyone, even herself.

"You approved this, Agent Bristow?" Kendall snapped.

Syd took a deep breath. "Yes."

"Agent Bristow, this is crazy. Do you even know what you're doing?"

"This is the only way for us to find Sloane," Syd protested.

"By trusting a fugitive?" Kendall raised his voice, looking from Syd to Vaughn with the same glare of disbelief.

"Sydney," Jack said. "He's right."

Syd stared at her father, her mouth dropping open. She had been sure that if anyone would have stood by her and Vaughn through destroying SD-6, it would have been her father.

"You don't know what she might do if you take her out of there. She's unpredictable," Jack continued. "It's not safe."

Sydney lowered her gaze. She had said almost the same thing. Silence hung into air around them until Vaughn's voice finally broke through it.

"With Sloane and Jason Matthews on the run, we need to bring along someone who might have some idea where they are. The only other person who has that kind of lead is Kate."

"Oh, so she's _Kate_ now?" Kendall asked mockingly.

"Sydney, do you know what you're getting yourself into?" Jack asked, his eyes asking for nothing but the truth.

Sydney looked at Vaughn. The truth was, she had no idea what she was getting into, what was going to happen. That part she was used to by now. But now, knowing that she and Vaughn would be doing this, that she wasn't alone, made her feel ready for anything.

"Yes," Syd answered. The confidence in her voice surprised everyone, even herself.

Kendall gave her nothing more than an exasperated sigh. "You'll take her out of here in an hour. That's all the time you have. You'll call every day with whatever intel you collect. Understand?"

Syd and Vaughn both nodded, silenced by disbelief. Syd would never have thought that Kendall would agree to something like this. But she didn't have time to think about it. Vaughn had already made it to the door of Kate's cell.

"You're coming with us. Kendall approved," Vaughn informed her.

"Your name's Kimberly Bristow, you're my cousin," Syd said, speaking the first crazy idea that came into her head. "I'm taking you to my apartment, where you'll tell me everything you know."

Kate nodded silently, shaken by everything she was being told so fast. Was she really getting out of here?

"We'll take these off once you get out of here." Vaughn gently curled a pair of handcuffs around her trembling wrists. "Let's go."

"Wait." Kate froze. "The plane, the toy plane I gave you when you brought me here. I'd like it back."

Vaughn nodded and opened a locker next to the wall. In it sat Kate's tiny toy plane. He dropped it into her hand and she curled her fingers tightly around it, closing her eyes.

"Come on," Syd told them gently. "We have to go."

They led Kate out of her prison, always keeping a watchful eye on her. "Kimberly Bristow?" Vaughn whispered as they walked outside, grinning. "Cousins?"

"You got a better idea?" Syd asked, fighting a laugh.

_The sound of Vaughn's car pulling out of the driveway was the only other sound Kate could hear. She saw the way Sydney watched him leave from the window, looking farther and farther down the road until she couldn't see him anymore. Tears rushed to Kate's tired eyes again. She choked them back. It was when she was watching those moments that she felt so alone. _

_The apartment was quiet. Kate wandered as far as she dared around the room. Pictures trapped in frames were scattered around the shelves. Sydney with a guy with blonde hair, glasses and a wide grin, and a girl with dark eyes and skin. But it was the last picture that stopped Kate in her endless miles of circles around the room. _

_A man with dark hair and deep brown eyes was smiling widely at the camera, his arms wrapped tight around a girl with long brown hair. Sydney. Kate almost didn't recognize her, she seemed like a different person. They both seemed so happy, you could see the life they had ahead of them together. The life that Kate almost just might have had with-_

_"My roommate's gonna be home soon." Sydney's voice cut through her daydreams. "Tell me what you know about Jason Matthews."_

_"What was his name?" Kate asked, still not taking her eyes off the picture. _

_Sydney was silent for a moment. "Danny," she said, trying her best to keep her voice strong. _

_Kate nodded, knowing not to ask any more. They were quiet again for a few minutes before Sydney spoke. _

_"It was James, wasn't it?" she asked gently. _

_Kate nodded, brave enough this time to not let the tears fall. "Yeah."_

_She was lost in memories of Sawyer again. They were driving down an endless black road, and the fog was so think it seemed to have swallowed the whole world up altogether. There was no one but them. _

_Kate couldn't stop smiling, she couldn't believe that this was real. He had actually wanted to come with her, and now she wasn't running alone. _

_"Whaddya' keep smilin' at, Freckles?" _

_"Nothing," Kate lied, turning towards the window. _

_He rolled his eyes. "Not much to look at," he said, teasing her. _

_"I can see," she said defiantly, even though she couldn't see more than half a foot in front of her. _

_Sawyer smiled at her confidence. It was one of the things he loved most about her, her bravery and the way she didn't seem to give a damn about what other people thought. He knew he could never have been that brave. _

_They pulled onto a highway, lights from the passing cars finally shining light onto Kate's view. She saw one of the things she feared most out that window, something that could take everything away from her if she ever let it see her. _

_Sirens pierced the silence of the night as it came into view. "Get down, Kate," Sawyer murmured, trying to keep her calm as he drove off the road and stopped. _

_Kate dove down out of sight, closing her eyes against the blinding lights, flashing in her face. She waited and waited with Sawyer's hand gripping her shoulder until the lights slowly faded away. _

_Kate climbed back into her seat, breathing hard. "You know what I did? Why they're chasing me? " she asked him._

_"Freckles, stop, you don't have to say it," he said._

_Kate shook her head. "I can't stand you not knowing. I hate lying to you, Sawyer, I can't do it anymore," she said, her voice trailing to a whisper. _

_He held her hand as she began her story, truly listening to every word, and she told him everything. About her stepfather, Wayne, and how he used to get drunk as hell and hit her mother. How when she couldn't take it anymore, she blew up the house, with Wayne himself in it._

_"It was my mom who told the police about me," she said. "Then I heard she was dying. Cancer. I went to see her, to apologize. She loved him, Sawyer. She really did." Kate couldn't even look at him, not wanting to see in his face what he thought of the truth. _

_"I went to see her, and she started screaming, for help. God, she looked so scared. Scared of me." Kate choked on the words. "My own mother was afraid of me."_

_Kate waited a few moments before she felt brave enough to look into his eyes. "Do you hate me?" she asked silently._

_Before she could even say the words, he pulled her close into a kiss that took away all her fears. Now that he knew her, and her past, and he didn't care, everything seemed right. There was someone who didn't care about her past, didn't care about anything but her. _

_"You think I give a damn about that, Freckles?" he asked fiercely, kissing her again. "It's over," he whispered. "All that's over."_

_It's over, Kate thought as he pulled that car back into the road. They drove on, focused on nothing but the road ahead._

_Kate blinked as the front door burst open. _

_"Thanks for picking me up, my car always seems to break down."_

_"No problem, it's really not that far-"_

_"Yeah, seeing that you practically live here anyway-"_

_A guy with blonde hair and glasses walked in, followed by a girl with long, dark hair pulled into a ponytail. Kate recognized them from the pictures. _

_"Hey," they both said, each pulling Sydney into a hug. The blonde guy pulled away from Sydney and stared at Kate for a minute before saying. _

_"Hi, I don't know you. I'm Will." He reached out his hand to shake hers. _

_"K-Kimberly," she answered, stuttering on her new name. _

_"Oh yeah," Sydney broke in, "this is my cousin, Kimberly. Kim, this is Will, and this is Francie."_

_Kate gave them a small smile. "Nice to meet you," she said brightly. _

_"Hey," Francie gave her a friendly smile. _

_"She'll be staying with us for a while," Sydney said vaguely. _

_"Welcome," Will said. _

_"Hey, guess what?" Francie said, digging into a plastic bag. "I bought ice cream." She pulled out a carton of chocolate ice cream. _

_"Good idea," Will said, grabbing a set of four bowls and spoons from the surrounding shelves. "To Kimberly, our new roommate-for-a-while."_

_"To Kimberly," Francie laughed, digging her spoon into the ice cream. _

_"To Kimberly," Sydney echoed. "I'll get the chocolate chips."_

_Kate smiled at all of them silently, almost speechless by the welcome. "You do this for all your guests?" she asked Will, you was piling scoops of ice cream into her bowl. _

_"Nope," Will said, "We do this everyday. The extra chocolate's for guests."_

_Kate nodded in mock seriousness, making him laugh. She was almost surprised when he looked at her. Was he blushing?_

_"Here you go," he said, handing her a spoon. _

_Kate looked down at the bowl of ice cream. The bowl itself was gone. It had turned into a huge pile of chocolate._

_Kate didn't know why, but for the first time in weeks, she heard herself laugh again. _


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello again,**

**Here we go, chapter 6. Skaters, you'll like the end of this chapter, and the next one will be even better! Sorry this took so long, it's been a really busy week with classes and stuff. **

**As always, thanks SO much for your reviews, they're what keep me writing chapter after chapter! And the coffees from Starbucks, of course, but reviews are so much better! Thank you. **

**X's, and O's endless always,**

**Kate**

Sydney sat in the big leather chair in Sloane's office, waiting for him to say something, anything. But he was silent. She hated the way he kept pacing around the room, never saying a word. Thoughts kept rushing into her head, turning into crazy ideas. What if he knew she had helped Kate escape? What if he knew what she had been doing all this time? What if-

"Sydney, we need to discuss your mission on the Austen case."

Syd's heart beat faster. "Yes." She couldn't say any more.

"We still don't know how the girl escaped. Amazing, really. Not many hostages escape from this place."

Syd closed her eyes at the knowing tone in his voice. "Amazing," she echoed.

"So you'll understand," Sloane continued, "why we need our top agents on this case." He stopped, resting a stiff hand on the back of Sydney's chair. Syd tried to keep from shuddering at how close he was. "I need you to take this mission, Sydney. I wouldn't have it any other way."

Sydney squeezed her hands together as a cold shiver ran down her spine. "Thank you, sir," she said stiffly.

"Sydney, Sydney," he chorused. "Always so formal. After we've known each other for so long, don't you think it's about time you called me by my name?"

Sydney forced a small smile. "When do you want me to go over there?" she asked briskly, changing the subject.

Sloane gave her a look, noticing how nervous she seemed. She didn't move.

"How about Thursday? We'll have a meeting to go over everything, and then send you on your way? All right?"

Sydney nodded, full of anger. Now that she knew everything, it was even harder to sit silently alone in this room with the one person who she knew she had to destroy.

"You know, Sydney," he leaned over the desk to look her in the eye, "if there's anything you want to tell me, you can."

"Thank you," she replied firmly. "But I'm fine."

"All right then," he said, still holding her trapped in his imposter's smile. "That's all."

Later Sydney burst through the door of her apartment, still fuming. The first thing she heard was loud, bright laughter. She smiled softly, all the bad thoughts in her head melting away. She was home.

She found Will in the kitchen, making what appeared to be a pizza. He was tossing the dough over his head, covering himself in a cloud of flower. Kate was there, her brown locks now turned gray. She was almost like a different person. She was almost happy.

"Hi," Syd called, forgetting about the fact that her kitchen had disappeared into a pile of white dust.

"Hey," Will said. He tossed a handful of flour in Syd's hair. "Sorry, too tempting," he teased.

"You're cleaning that up," she said to Will, shaking the flour out of her hair as best she could. "Hey," she said to Kate, who was staring out the window with a faraway look. Kate smiled softly. "Hi."

"I'm gonna go for a run," Syd said, kicking off her heels and searching under the couch for her old, worn sneakers.

Kate's head perked up. "Can I come?"

Syd nodded, surprise in her voice. "Hang on, come with me for a sec, I'll find some shoes for you."

Kate followed Syd into Syd's small bedroom, where she was searching through her closet. She tossed Kate a pair of worn, old sneakers that must have already run a thousand miles. Kate pulled them on, tugging the laces tight. Syd reached into her purse, digging around for a moment before she found a white bracelet.

"Sorry, you'll have to wear this," she tossed it to Kate. "It's a tracker, you can't leave the house without it."

"I'm not gonna run," Kate reached out to hand it back.

"I thought that was the idea," Syd snapped back.

Kate glared at Syd again before she finally clipped the bracelet around her small wrist.

_The California sun beamed down on them, and Kate breathed in all the light. She almost forgot everything, the way she had had to become someone else all her life, the heavy white plastic around her wrist. She almost, for the first time she could remember, felt free. _

_This was what she lived for, the freedom of running. She felt like she could fly, she felt unstoppable, like she could accomplish anything. She had always told herself that she was born to run, but it was a lie. She was born to be free. _

_They stopped under a tree, its branches protecting them from the powerful rays of the sun. Kate took a deep breath as she stared out into the endless ocean. _

_Syd grabbed her water bottle out of her bag. "Four miles," she said, throwing it to Kate. _

_Kate nodded, eagerly gulping down half the bottle as she finally caught her breath. She dug the toe of her shoe deep into the dirt. Four miles. She remembered running much farther than that with Sawyer, in those few moments that they spent off the road. He was the only person who had ever been able to keep up with her, that loved that freedom as much as she did. Kate closed her eyes tightly, blocking the memories away. Why was it that everything reminded her of him?_

_She needed to talk to someone, she realized. Remembering what Vaughn had said to her about Sydney, the picture of her and Danny, she couldn't bite the words back anymore. _

_"It was my fault." Syd looked up at her, but didn't say anything. "He shot the gun because of me."_

_Sydney just stared and listened. Kate took a deep breath and swallowed back her tears. She couldn't cry anymore. She'd cried enough. _

_"Jason saw me, he recognized me. A while ago, before the island, I'd gotten Jason to break into another bank with me. But he tried to kill the manager, so I shot him. Back in L.A he came in with a gun and some other guys who were working for him. He grabbed me, tried to take me somewhere where he could talk, get me to help him, I guess. But I hit him, and Sawyer pulled him away from me."_

_She couldn't stop the words now. The memory was playing like an unstoppable horror movie in her head, and the story rushed word after word from her mouth. _

_"He pulled out the gun, and I called to Sawyer to let go. He wouldn't, but Jason pointed the gun at me and he let go." Kate felt her voice shaking, but she wouldn't let it. _

_"Jason kept the gun pointed at me and said that if I didn't help him he'd shoot. I didn't know what to do. So I said yes, and he turned away. I grabbed the gun and shot them, but I didn't kill them. Jason-he got away. He shot Sawyer." Kate didn't even notice Sydney standing there, listening to her every word. "He was dying, he told me to run. So I did." _

_Kate looked up at Syd, who was looking at her with the same pain in her eyes that Kate had been feeling. She had a story to tell too. _

_"Danny died- he died because I told him. About what I do." Syd stared out on to the ocean. "Sloane, he made me believe that it was my fault, that I killed him. Maybe it was true. But if I would have had to stay with him, lie to him everyday-" Syd's voice trembled into silence as she shook her head. "I couldn't stand him not knowing. I loved him. I couldn't lie anymore."_

_Kate listened, just as Syd had for her, and she understood. She understood what Vaughn had said to her, the only one who knew what she was going through was Sydney. He had been right. But could she find a friend in Sydney, someone who she had once thought was her enemy? _

_As Sydney looked back at Kate and smiled, the answer came to her. Yes, she could. _

Syd had listened to Kate's story, and she was surprised to find how similar it was to her own. She smiled at Kate. "Come on, it's getting dark."

Sydney was about to spring to her feet and run again when her phone rang. She pulled it out of her backpack with a sigh.

"Who's that?" Kate asked as Syd squinted at the caller id.

"Vaughn," Syd replied. She tried to hide her smile. She liked hearing his voice, she realized. But the smile didn't escape Kate.

"Oh, Vaughn," Kate replied, rolling her eyes and laughing.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Syd snapped, but Kate was already racing down the road again. Syd put the phone to her ear. "Hi," she said.

"Syd, we need you," Vaughn said urgently.

Syd's smile turned into a concerned line. "What's wrong?"

"There's been a walk in." Vaughn paused. "Syd, it's him. James Ford. He's alive."


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi again,**

**Okay, so I really do suck at updates. I'm really sorry it took to long, guys! I had hoped to update before end-of-hiatus, but that obviously didn't work out, but can you believe it, LOST IS BACK! And I loved the new episode (I feel really bad for Alex's boyfriend though). My friends and I all were at my house eating chips and salsa, a big celebration that we've been planning since the last episode. **

**Anyway, here's chapter 7. Skate reunion! And a familiar face for you lost people! Hope you like it. It's kind of weird, I moved this under Alias cause I was writing too much Alias stuff, and now here I am writing a lost about Lost. Crossovers are cool like that. **

**Happy end of hiatus, please review, I don't own this, blah blah, thank you for reading!**

**Love, Kate**

_The sound of her footsteps echoed through the halls as she marched forward, her face red from burning tears. She had thought she had cried enough. But the past few hours had been too much. She had learned that the man the she loved was alive, only to overhear minutes later that he may never be released. Kate only knew that that was the one thing she wouldn't let happen. It was almost her fault anyway. She was the one who hadn't told the whole truth. She hadn't told Sydney about the rest of what really happened that day, how Sawyer had been the one who killed two of those men, killed them to save her life. _

_Fear and determination took her over. She hardly even knew what she was doing, and she didn't care. She had to stop this from happening. Nothing else mattered. _

_A guard by the front door stopped her, and almost without realizing she hit him, and he fell to the ground. Nothing was going to stop her. _

_The first thing she saw was Sydney, standing with Vaughn. Kate could tell that she was angry. Her voice was raised and she and Vaughn kept glancing over to the cell that only days ago had been Kate's prison. She gulped back a sob, knowing who must be trapped behind those glass walls now. Kate wouldn't let herself think about it, remember the feeling of being trapped. She just walked right up to Sydney and Vaughn. _

_"You can't let this happen," she said before they even saw her. _

_"Kate, what are you doing here?" Sydney asked sharply._

_"How did you get in here?" Vaughn snapped._

_"I followed you." Kate said. "Now listen to me, you have to let him go-"_

_"Kate, we don't know what's gonna happen yet-"_

_"Why didn't you tell me everything?" Sydney asked._

_"Because-" Kate's voice broke off. She hadn't even noticed it before, but there had always been some insane flame of hope inside of her, saying that he was still alive. She couldn't let him live the life that she had for those few days, being locked up. _

_"We better get her out of here," Vaughn said to Sydney. "If Kendall sees her in here, she'll be locked back in there too." _

_"I'm not leaving until I see him," Kate said firmly. _

_Sydney and Vaughn exchanged glances. They both knew she wasn't about to just give up. _

_Syd led her over to the door of the glass jail and opened it. Kate hovered for a few seconds in the doorway, almost afraid of what she would say to him, afraid that no words would come to her. But there was no turning back now. _

_She could see him over in the corner, his head hung over, tears in his eyes. She never in a million years would have thought she'd see him like this. _

_Kate just stood there, frozen as his eyes met hers. She heard his tired voice croak her name. "Kate." She couldn't move, she was almost in shock. Emotions and thoughts rushed at her so fast she couldn't keep up with them. _

_"I'm sorry, Freckles. Shouldn't have made you go out to that bank in the first place."_

_"That was my idea." The words came out of her mouth without her control. _

_"Then I should've stopped you."_

_"I would have gone anyway." They both knew it was true. _

_"Bet you would."_

_What was she supposed to say? She wanted to run to him, but some fear kept holding her back. She hated the feeling. It was just like being locked up again. But there was something she needed to hear him say. _

_"Promise me you won't ever do anything like that again." Kate said. "You have no idea how scared I was."_

_He looked up at her with tear-stained eyes. "Wasn't easy for me either, Freckles, you know that. But watching him point that damn gun at you-"_

_"Just promise." Kate dug her fingernails into her palms as she waited for his answer. _

_"I promise," he whispered in a voice so small only she could hear. _

_The next thing she knew, she was in his arms, his fingers tangled in her hair as he whispered gentle words into her ear. She kissed him again and again, and with each kiss the fear inside her melted away. "It's going to be okay," she whispered aloud to convince both of them. _

_He took her head in his hands, stroking her red cheeks as he kissed her again. "How do you know that?" he asked._

_"Because I'm gonna get you out of here," she whispered, and she now believed that anything was possible. _

Sydney turned away from the glass as she let Kate through the door. All she kept thinking was what if it was her, what if she had just learned that Danny was still alive. She wouldn't know what to think, she realized. She knew the feeling all too well, the feeling of your life changing forever in just a minute.

"You think he's innocent?" Vaughn walked up to her.

"If we prove it was self-defense, they'll let him go." Syd murmured.

"But they still think that he was after what Jason Matthews was after." Vaughn finished her sentence.

The sound of a slamming door cut off Syd's answer as Kate broke into the office.

"Tell me what to do," she demanded.

"Kate," Vaughn looked at her apologetically, "you know we can't-"

"Like that would stop either of you." Kate snapped back.

Vaughn and Syd looked at each other and then back at Kate, who they both knew would blow up the headquarters of the CIA if she had to.

"Keep your voice down," Syd murmured. "We'll talk, but we have to get out of here first."

Vaughn took Kate's shoulder in his gentle grip and led her out. They put her in the silver van, and she blinked as Syd slid the door shut. Vaughn gripped the wheel and drove, drove on and on with no destination.

"What's going on?" Kate finally asked. "Tell me."

"The police think that you and Ford were part of the break-in that was led by Matthews, and that it was just for money," Vaughn said. "They think that the people Ford killed in self-defense were innocent."

"Now you tell us." Syd pulled her eyes from the window to look at Kate. "Why did you break in to that bank?"

Kate looked distantly out the window. "We needed money, but that wasn't the real reason." She took a deep breath. "Back on the island, before he went on the raft, he wrote letters to me, and I wrote to him. Nobody else knew, but we snuck them into a bottle that everyone else was sending letters in, and they put it out into the ocean. We found it on the beach. But there was a man on the boat that came for the raft who was taking over the search for me, because the marshal who had been taking me back had died after the crash. He took the letters, all of them, anything to help him find me. I never read them. He put them in the bank."

Vaughn and Syd stared down the road both thinking the same thoughts. _Why was would Sloane send someone after them?_

"Who else wrote those letters?" Vaughn asked slowly, the list of survivors running through his mind.

Kate shrugged. "I didn't know everyone, but Hurley- Hugo collected them, I think Boone and Shannon wrote some, and I think I saw Sayid writing something."

"Sayid who?" Syd asked, the name flickering in her memory.

"Sayid Jarrah."

Sydney whirled around to face Vaughn. "The guy who helped the CIA with the terrorist search last year?"

Vaughn grabbed a stack of folders in the back of the van and began to flip back to the "J" section. He ran his fingertips down the page, stopping at the middle of page 56. "Is that him?" he asked.

Kate's mouth dropped open as she looked at the familiar face. "Yes," she whispered.

"He's still in L.A," Syd muttered. She grabbed her phone and punched in the numbers under the picture. He picked up on the first ring.

"Hi, my name is Sydney Bristow, I'm with the CIA," she said into the phone.

Her words were greeted with a sigh. "I have told them I cannot help them anymore," the voice said.

"I know," Sydney replied, "but I'm calling on behalf of someone you know."

"Who?" he asked curiously.

Sydney looked at Vaughn and Kate. "Kate Austen, from flight 815."

There was silence for a minute. "Sir?" Sydney asked.

"Let me talk to her." Sayid muttered.

Sydney handed the phone to Kate, who took it with trembling fingers. "Hello?" she whispered.

The voice on the other end was too muffled for Sydney to hear. "Sawyer-he's- I know you don't want to help him, Sayid, but he's innocent." Kate closed her eyes as he answered. "Thank you." She handed the phone back to Sydney. "He needs to talk to you. He says he wants to help."

"He says he'll meet us in a few minutes, by that overpass." Kate was still staring out the window. "What did he say?" Sydney asked, curiosity overwhelming her.

"He said he didn't want to make the same mistake again, like he did on the island." Kate remembered. It was the day she first kissed him. She blinked the memories away as Vaughn pulled the car under the overpass. They must have been waiting for only minutes when another car slowly pulled in next to them. A tall man with dark skin and long curly hair got out. Vaughn opened the van door for him. "Get in," he muttered.

Kate stared. Another face from her past. Sayid stared back, but it wasn't long before their silence was cut off by Sydney's questions.

"What did you write in those letters?"

Sayid paused. "Before the raft left I encoded a message in a letter. A letter to Nadia." He sighed. "The truth is, the CIA did not find all of the explosives they sent me to find. Before I left I found a letter from my friend, Essam, saying that someone had told him to leave most of them behind."

"Sloane," Syd said knowingly.

"I encoded the location of the explosives in a letter to her from the island so by some chance that it was ever found she would give the location to CIA and they would still let her go, " Sayid finished.

"Well, now we know what Sloane sent Matthews after," Sydney said.

"What now?" Kate asked, ready to do anything.

Vaughn almost smiled at her familiar determination. "If we can find those letters with the location of the nukes to prove that that was what the real break-in was for, we can prove his innocence."

"You sure?" Kate asked nervously.

Sydney nodded. "Two years ago SD-6 was looking for that same man, Essam. They'll have his name in the records, we can give that to the CIA as more proof."

"So we'll break in to the bank for the letters as proof?" Vaughn asked. "Sydney, this is crazy-"

"When would that ever stop you?" Sydney repeated Kate's words. She turned to Sayid. "Do you think if we get you back into the CIA and find what you can about Jason so we can link him to Sloane?" she asked.

Sayid nodded. "They said if I ever needed anything I could come."

"Good," Sydney said before adding, "Stalling for us if they ask wouldn't hurt either."

Sayid nodded again and turned to look at Kate. She gave him a small smile. It was good to see a familiar face. "Thanks," she said.

"Let's go," Syd said, pulling the car back into the road.


End file.
